Introducing Big Hero 6

Last week Disney released the first trailer for their new animated movie, Big Hero 6. Coming from the same people who made Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen, Big Hero 6 will no doubt be a big success when it debuts early next year.

What you may not know is that the movie is based on an obscure, Japanese, superhero team from Marvel and marks the first time Disney Studios will be making an animated Marvel movie. This movie has franchise written all over it, with huge potential for toys, video games and all kinds of merchandise and tie-ins in the future. So before all that starts popping up, we here at Geek Ireland are going to give you an introduction to Big Hero 6, so you can wear your hipster glasses and say you knew who they were before they were famous.

Big Hero 6

The original Big Hero 6 from the Marvel comic.

The Japanese super team was put together by a consortium of politicians and businesses, so they could recruit and train their own hand-picked team to protect the country from threats. The original team had notable members like Wolverine, enemy turned hero Silver Samurai and X-Men member Sunfire. The group has teamed up with other Marvel characters such as the Canadian super team Alpha Flight and Spider-Man. The movie version of Big Hero 6 will differ from its comic book counterpart in that the story will be set in the fictional city of San Fransokyo (a combination of San Francisco and Tokyo) and due to legal rights will not feature certain characters like Silver Samurai and Sunfire (their both X-Men characters, whose rights are owned by Fox). The team will also be put together by Hiro in order to avenge the death of his brother. The most recent version of the team will feature in the movie and include the following members:

Hiro Hamada & Baymax

Hiro Hamada (renamed from his comic name of Hiro Takachiho) is a child prodigy whose genius intellect allowed him to create his own personal robot, Baymax. In the comics, Baymax acts as Hiro’s butler, bodyguard and chauffeur. After the death of his father, Hiro programmes Baymax with his fathers brain patterns which leads to the robot becoming much more protective of the boy and forming a strong best friend/father figure relationship. After being recruited to Big Hero 6, Hiro uses Baymax to fight crime and in the early days the robot could transform into a dragon like monster. In the movie Baymax starts out as Hiro’s brother’s robot, with Hiro building battle armour for Baymax to wear after his brothers death. Hiro became the team leader after Sunfire and Silver Samurai left and will be the leader in the movie.

Fred/Frezilla

The newest member of the team, Fred has the ability to surround himself in a psychic aura which takes on the form of a giant Kaiju like monster, called Fredzilla. This acts like a suit of armour that gives Fred super strength, stamina and resistance to damage. Fred will be voiced by TJ Miller in the movie.

Go Go Tomago

One of the original Big Hero 6 members, Go Go is a former street urchin and biker gang member. After going to jail for robbery, she was offered freedom if she would be a test pilot for a new exosuit, due to her skills as a motor cyclist. Under the threat of prison, Go Go was recruited to Big Hero Six. The exosuit covers Go Go’s body in energy, allowing flight, super strength, speed and damage resistance. At full power Go Go becomes engulfed in a sphere of energy that travels at high-speed. Go Go Tomogo will be voiced by Jamie Chung in the movie.

Wasabi-No Ginger

A former chef, who is also trained in various forms of combat and an expert swordsman. Wasabi can focus his Qi into energy projectiles, that take the form of kitchen knives.

Honey Lemon

Another original member, Aiko Miyazaki was an accomplished science graduate, who went on to join one of Japans top intelligence agencies. While there she was head of her own science team, who went on to invent a portable, artificial wormhole, which they disguised as a purse. Using this Aiko could pull anything she needs from different dimensions, such as weapons and tech. Aikos mastery of the purse and her high intelligence and training made her an ideal pick for Big Hero 6. After joining the team she took the code name, Honey Lemon. Hiro has a huge crush on Honey Lemon.

Big Hero 6 is scheduled to release in February 2015 and is set to deliver and more family and child friendly superhero experience, similar to Pixar’s The Incredibles. Hopefully the movie will be a big success and open the door for a possible animated Marvel movie universe, maybe with other kid friendly teams like Power Pack and New Warriors.